Don't Think! Just Do As You Are Told!

Utah State Senator Howard Stephenson wants our State Universities to quit teaching, "thinking". Eliminate liberal arts, Humanities, Philosophy and specialize in teaching science, technology, engineering and math. Because, getting a degree in, "thinking" instead of science won't get you a job. Really?

I had to have a degree in behavioral sciences to get my job with the State in 1983. My Bachelor Of Science in Sociology (Certificate within the Department of Sociology in Criminology and Corrections, minor in psychology) got my foot in the door with Youth Corrections. Closing down the old State School in Ogden and opening the new, Decker Lake Youth Facility in West Valley City. From there I went on to be a Juvenile Court Probation officer for five years, and after that, spent the last 18 years of my career as an Adult Probation And Parole Agent.

Would the Senator prefer that the probation and parole Agent's of the State, and the Police Officers, Highway Patrol Troopers, and other law enforcement officers in Utah NOT have a degree in a field like sociology or psychology, or social work? Maybe they should study, oh, I don't know, engineering?

Or not an education at all? Give them the ability to use deadly force and enforce the law, but don't teach them anything about the history of their job, or the law they are enforcing?

When I became an Adult Probation and Parole Agent a degree was required. By the time I retired, the, "something for nothing" folks had decided that four years of working in the field was as good as a degree. It was a major mistake. I worked with a bunch of guys who could kick down doors, and chase bad guys but could not, under any circumstance take off the COP hat and put on the Social Worker hat that is needed when working as a probation and parole agent. And since they were being led by a bunch of guys with no education either, these guys kept getting put in charge. I was so discouraged by the state of affairs in Corrections by the time I left, I was thrilled to death when they told me I could retire two years earlier than I had planned.

A liberal arts education, even though Senator Stephenson doesn't think so, is the cornerstone of ALL education. Would he have the high schools quit teaching arts and humanities? Would he eliminate the Debate programs since it teaches kids to look at BOTH sides of any issue, because depending on the draw any week, you might be called on to defend or condemn that years debate topic?

My father had an engineering degree from West Virginia University. You know how if someone is not too smart, you would say, "He's no rocket scientist"? Well, my dad WAS a rocket scientist. He had a hand in designing the Polaris and Poseidon intercontinental ballistic missiles while working for Hercules Aerospace.

He also spoke Latin. And he designed those missiles with a slide rule. He never owned a calculator. Let alone a computer.

I've read that Senator Stephenson has a Bachelors Degree in Psychology, and one in Aerospace Studies from BYU. His web sight also says he has a Masters In Public Administration from, "Down to the BYU" too. It does not, nor do ten or so other web sights I've checked, tell me what he does for a living. It says he's a Public Administrator. But it doesn't say for who. Kind of sounds like, "Community Organizer"? Suspicious I'd say.

It says he's been the head of the Utah Tax Payers Association. And in a biography you can listen to from KCPW, it says he enjoys spending time on his houseboat at Lake Powell and listening to Coldplay.

But it doesn't say how he earns his money.

Now, here's a man with one degree in humanities, who is not a Psychologist. One degree in Aerospace Studies, who's never been a rocket scientist. And a Master's Degree in Public Administration, all from a PRIVATE "University" (and I use the world loosely, because I believe that BYU stands for, But, You're Uneducated?) who wants to turn our public Universities into, de facto Technical Schools.

This does not surprise me. After all, he's all for Charter Schools. Where the teachers don't really have to have been educated as TEACHERS! And he's OK with the person in charge of education for the state, not really having the qualifications the job requires, so the Legislature will just change the job requirements. And as a committed Republican, I assume he's in favor of Gayle Ruzika and her lap dog, Chris Buttars plan to eliminate Boards of Education and put the, "Righteouslature" in charge of the curriculum because, God forbid, the kids might learn to think, and not just accept, "Utah Values".

And we all know what, "Utah Values" is code for. Anything that isn't Mormon, isn't, "Utah Values".

This guy got his education at a private school and thinks he knows best how our public Universities should be run. He doesn't have a job in Public Administration, even though he has a Master's Degree in it. He's the head of the Utah Taxpayers Association. He's not a public administrator, he's a lobbyist and legislator for a bunch of rich people who don't want to PAY their taxes! And they pay him enough to own a houseboat on Lake Powell.

Look, I'm all for having more engineers and scientists. But you can't HAVE them, unless you pay people to TEACH them. Make going into mathematics as a major worth it's time and effort, and pay math teachers, and ALL teachers (those who actually get a degree in teaching, not some guy drug in off the street at your local Charter School) a living wage!

I was not a great student. I spent my first two years at the, "U" on academic probation while a journalism major. A professor, who I now thank for her insight, called me into her office one day and said, "You can't write, and you can't spell, and you really should find another major." It hurt at the time, but it turned out to be a good thing. I loved sociology, and I loved the criminology aspect of it, and 23 years after getting my degree, I retired as the most decorated Agent in the history of Adult Probation and Parole (Four Medals of Merit, two Certificates of Commendation, and Executive Directors Award and I was the only Agent in the Department named, "One of Utah's Good Cops" by KSTU Channel 13).

I would argue that a Degree in the humanities is not a degree to nowhere. I would however, suggest that Senator Stephenson is going nowhere fast with this crazy proposal.